The Pokemon Go App Phenom

Updated on July 14, 2016

On July 6, 2016 Niantic, The Pokemon Company released an app on the android and Apple stores free to download. The well designed app allows users/gamers to catch, evolve and combat their Pokemon catches. Currently there are already ten million downloads for the app on Android and just as much in the Apple store. After one week of delay the Pokemon Go app was released in the United Kingdom which had over one million downloads within the first two hours.

Not much promotion was done for the app which was an instant success. The game features Pokemon all over the place. There is a mode called "AR mode" which is real time GPS coverage in which Pokemon appear before your eyes or you have to walk around outside in search of them. Also you can find eggs, Pokeballs, and a bunch of other cool things in conjunction with the ideal of catching and battling Pokemon. In Ar mode you see outside in real mode and the animated Pokemon appears to be out in public like a cartoon. When you switch off AR mode, your phone basically is looking for Pokemon in a GPS mode which looks something like Google Maps. Your location on the map is being recorded and might be visible to others. The ideal of the game is to catch Pokemon but the fact that you have to get out there and find them brings interaction into play like never before.

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Pokemon Go in the News

Almost instantly the drama began with the Pokemon Go app. The LA times reported that in North San Diego County, two men had fallen off of a bluff while playing Pokemon Go on their cellphones. Also in Anaheim one player was stabbed by group of men in a park who was out searching for Pokemon. Reports from all over the US and Puerto Rico are now constantly coming in as the game proves more popular.

On Wednesday, June 13, 2016 firefighters had to rescue two men who fell several stories off a fragile cliff in Encinitas. The young men were playing Pokemon Go and had gotten close to the edge in pursuit of a Pokemon. One of them had fallen almost one hundred feet but had survived. His friend was found unconscious fifty feet below the cliff. Both young men were rushed to the hospital.

In Wyoming a women named Shayla Wiggins found a dead body while pursuing a Pokemon in her hometown by a river.

Officers in O’Fallon, Missouri are on the lookout for a group of assailants targeting Pokémon Go players. The four suspects were arrested on Sunday with a handgun in their possession. These robbers installed a lure module ( a free feature on the Pokemon Go app) at a Pokestop to try and attract potential victims.The lure module makes Pokemon come to where you are at a certain distance from your cell phone but others can also see this and come catch your Pokemon.

On Wednesday, firefighters rescued two men who fell several stories off the crumbling sandstone bluff in Encinitas, according to authorities. The men, who were in their early 20s, were playing “Pokemon Go” at the time and likely were led to the cliff when they were trying to catch characters, said Sgt. Rich Eaton of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

One man fell 75 to 100 feet. As firefighters rescued the man, they found the second man unconscious 50 feet down the bluff, said Battalion Chief Robbie Ford of the Encinitas Fire Department. Both were taken to area trauma centers and suffered moderate injuries, he said.

The game has also been cited in a couple of road accidents. Texas A&M University Police had tweeted this week that a vehicle struck an illegally parked car Monday noting that the 1st driver had exited his car (which he left running) to catch a Pokémon nearby.

The following day a driver reportedly wrapped his car around a tree while playing Pokemon Go and nearly lost his life in upstate New York.

One recently woman reached out to WPXI-TV in W Pennsylvania that her 15-year-old daughter was hit by a car while searching for Pikachu (one of the best Pokemon) and crossing a busy highway. The girl was reportedly hospitalized with an injured collarbone and foot and had some cuts and bruises.

Pokemon Go Plus

If you want your cellphone to be free when your searching for Pokemon then you'll need to check out Pokemon Go Plus. It's a wristband watch type technology that does has the same technology as Pokemon Go. Users can do all the things that their app can do without tying up your phone.